?Team WE made it past Oh My God (3-0) and Bilibili Gaming (3-0) and are now set to face Rare Atom for a spot in the second stage of the LoL Pro League (LPL) 2021 Summer playoffs. Rare Atom last met with Team WE at the start of June, when they edged out a 2-1 victory; however, WE have since improved, so they should do better this time out.

Team WE enter this match as one of the most efficient early-game teams in the league, as evident from their Gold Difference (GD) metrics, which show +594 GD@10, +2303 GD@15, and +1725 GD@20. Those figures rank them fourth, first and first in the league respectively. In contrast, Rare Atom have managed +142 GD@10, +857 GD@15, and +1575 GD@20 – seventh, third, and third in the league.

Team WE’s pre-20 GD numbers are directly related to their strong Herald control (60.5%); however, they lack in Drake (49.2%) and Baron (57.1%). Those stats indicate that beating Team WE is fairly simple – survive the early game and draft scaling, which is Rare Atom’s preferred style of play.

This should be a stylistic nightmare for Team WE. Although WE are in hot form, we would argue that Rare Atom should be priced as the betting favourites.

?Misfits Gaming surprised many with their close five-map series against Rogue (2-3) on Friday, and you could even argue that the Bunnies should have won that match. Fnatic, meanwhile, edged past Team Vitality (3-2) in their opening match of the playoffs.

Fnatic played well, and they seem close to the form they’ve been showing midway through the summer season. Fnatic’s bottom lane is still a force to be reckoned with, while their top side is surprisingly solid. Mid laner Yasin “Nisqy” Din?er can be hit-or-miss with a strong upside, while jungler Gabri?l “Bwipo” Rau is the same playmaker he was during his time in the top lane.

Individually, Fnatic are a better team than Misfits; however, they aren’t as consistent, for which they could get punished. The teams’ win conditions for this match are fairly simple – Misfits need to play the same way they usually do and hope Fnatic beat themselves, whereas Fnatic need to counter Misfits’ strong top side and rely on their bottom lane to do their thing.

Misfits are 2-0 up in the head-to-head with Fnatic on the season; however, they had the luxury of facing Fnatic while they were struggling with their form. This match has a five-map series written all over it, but we have to favour Fnatic to come out ahead.

?TSM got stomped by Team Liquid on Sunday (1-3) and now need to fight their way through the lower bracket for a ticket for the 2021 LoL World Championship. Their next opponents, Immortals, eased past Dignitas with an excellent showing, but it remains to be seen whether they’ll look as good against the LCS regular-season champions.

TSM lead Immortals 5-0 in the head-to-head over the 2021 LCS season and are expected to add their sixth on Friday. That might happen; however, we don’t believe TSM will be as dominant as the latest LoL betting odds suggest.

Immortals have done relatively well against TSM in their last three clashes and should have won at least once. They might not have as many star names, but Immortals are good enough to push TSM to their limits and are a solid bet with a +1.5 map handicap.

?T1 aren’t the flashiest team, and we have seen them make some questionable plays before. But as evident from their Gold Percent Rating (0.74) and Average Gold Spent Percentage Difference (3.5%), T1 control their games from start to finish and usually close them out with a healthy gold lead.

Liiv SANDBOX came out of nowhere to finish LCK 2021 Summer in fifth (one win short of Gen.G and DWG KIA), which is quite an achievement for an organisation that managed only a seventh-place finish last term. SANDBOX were very effective as an underdog this season (9-1 against the map spread), which should make you confident about their chances to impress on Thursday.

Unfortunately, Liiv SANDBOX seemed out of character in the latter stages of the split when they underperformed against Fredit BRION (2-1) and KT Rolster (1-2). On a more positive note, they are 2-0 in the head-to-head with T1.

This match will come down to which version of Liiv SANDBOX we will get; however, even if they return to their old form, it’s unlikely that they’ll manage to beat T1 in a best-of-five (Bo5) series. T1 to win is a safe bet at good odds, but we like the value on the map line better.

?LNG Esports enter this match in hot form, having already eliminated Suning (3-2) and Top Esports (3-1) from the playoffs. Last week LNG produced their best statistical performances of the year, so you have to question whether they have figured something out or if they are simply overachieving. The answer is likely somewhere in the middle.

If we look at LNG Esports’ performances across the LPL 2021 Summer season, they were a good team but struggled with objective control. Their Drake, Herald, and Baron Control are at 44.6%, 47%, and 48% respectively – some of the lowest metrics in the league.

In contrast, Royal Never Give Up’s neutral objective control numbers show 50%, 58%, and 60%, which are average figures for the LPL. Obviously, there is more to the game than just killing the neutral monsters, and if we compare these two teams in other performance metrics, RNG are miles ahead of LNG.

Many people will be bullish on LNG following their last two performances, but putting two upset wins on top of a fairly mediocre season doesn’t change the fact that they are fundamentally not as solid as RNG. Chen “GALA” Wei and co. should be able to take care of business.

Suning will meet with ThunderTalk Gaming in their final fixture of the summer season. The reigning LoL World Championship finalists enter this bout following a 1-2 loss to Rare Atom on Monday, marking their second defeat in their last four.

This match is tricky to predict since both teams already know where they’ll end the season. No matter how the game ends, TT Gaming will finish LPL 2021 Summer inside the bottom four, whereas Suning are already locked in for the playoffs.

Since neither team has any incentive to win, Suning and TT Gaming will likely play a bit looser, which makes a +1.5 map handicap bet on the outsider a great choice at $2.68 with GG Bet.

Victory Five are rank outsiders for this clash, and it might be tempting to back them with a +1.5 map handicap, but this is not a bet we would recommend. There is nothing about V5 that would make you believe that they can upset the 2019 LoL world champions, especially considering that this is a must-win match for FunPlus Phoenix.

FPX are still in the race for the LPL 2021 Summer regular-season title with EDward Gaming, who they will meet in their final match before the playoffs. That clash will likely decide who will claim the crown, assuming EDG and FPX win their upcoming bouts.

While there is no value in backing the outsiders in the main markets, you should consider a bet on V5 to secure first blood. They have a 57% First Blood Rate (FB) on the season, while FPX’s is at only 38%.

?Oh My God have been playing relatively well over the second half of the season, but this is not a top-tier team. They’re ranked outside of the top 10 in all performance metrics except for Baron Control, where they hold the league’s ninth-best rating of 53.8%.

What’s more, the eye test suggests that over half of OMG’s victories have not been quality wins, so we wouldn’t put too much weight on their 9-6 record on the season. Their next opponents, Top Esports, are 8-6 this term, meaning they have yet to qualify for the playoffs.

With Bilibili Gaming (8-6) and JD Gaming (7-8) right next to them, Top are in a tight race to finish the season inside the 10 and can’t afford to drop any more series after their loss against Ultra Prime on Saturday.

Despite Top’s shaky showings, we wouldn’t side with OMG to upset the 2020 LoL World Championship semi-finalists. Instead, we like the outsiders on the first blood market. OMG boast a 54% First Blood Rate (FB), whereas Top average only 42% (fourth-lowest in the league), yet you’re still getting better than even money on OMG.

?Royal Never Give Up have had some iffy moments this term, but they’ve shown improvement over the last few weeks and now seem to be in peak form. It’s still very early to say, but RNG come off as serious LPL Summer title contenders alongside FunPlus Phoenix and EDward Gaming.

Team WE are a talented roster, but they are very difficult to evaluate. While they have very good performance metrics, the lack of consistency makes it difficult to trust them to deliver.

Much of Team WE’s struggles come down to their bottom-lane duo, who have been very underwhelming this split – at least relative to expectations. We expect RNG to take advantage of WE’s weakness and secure a comfortable victory on Tuesday.

?Oh My God might be 7-6 on the season, but this is not a very good team, nor should they be viewed as a serious threat for a top-six finish. Looking at their metrics on the season, OMG average some of the worst Gold Difference numbers in the league, including -795 GD at 10 minutes, -1108 GD at 15 minutes, and -1925 GD at 20 minutes.

From the 20th minute onwards, OMG’s GD is at -129.1, which ranks them outside the top 13 in all four metrics. There is no redeeming quality in this team, even if we look at their neutral objectives numbers, where they average 48.2% Drake control (12th), 41.8% Herald control (12th), and 48.5% Baron control (13th).

JD Gaming are not a perfect team either and can be very frustrating to watch due to their caveman-like approach to the games, trying to muscle their way into favourable situations. That hasn’t helped them achieve much against China’s top LoL teams, but it’s an efficient style for crushing weaker squads.

?Invictus Gaming have managed only four wins from 11 games on the summer season, which is good for 13th spot in the LPL 2021 Summer standings, three wins below the playoffs line. As their record would suggest, IG haven’t had much success and are now in danger of missing out on the playoffs for the first time in the organisation’s history.

Despite their struggles, this is still a very strong squad, the core of which won the 2018 LoL World Championship and made it to the semi-finals in 2019. Consistency is an issue, but the quality is there.

Bilibili Gaming have been more consistent this split and have done well against some of the LPL top dogs before. Regardless, Invictus Gaming are overpriced at $2.22.

?LNG Esports’ bottom lane is one of the best in the league and is a big reason why Lee “Tarzan” Seung-yong and co. are 8-3 on the season. Against OMG on Sunday, LNG fielded their academy bottom lane, who played well, but LNG will likely return to their old roster for this match. While LNG’s bottom lane is rock solid, their top side can be a bit volatile – a perfect balance that seems to work.

Suning are 6-5 on the season and 3-1 in their last four, with one loss against Rogue Warriors (1-2) and three wins against Oh My God (2-0), Top Esports (2-1), and JD Gaming (2-0). Although it’s easy to point towards Suning’s defeat against RW, upset results like that don’t mean much.

Despite what their current standing would suggest, Suning are stronger than LNG but definitely not strong enough to justify the offered LoL betting odds. Suning should win, but they will likely drop at least one map.

Oh My God are 6-5 on the season, which is a fairly solid record for this team; however, that number doesn’t fairly show how good OMG actually are. The big issue with OMG is that they rely too much on their mid-laner Lin “Creme” Jian to win them games.

That has worked for OMG so far, which explains their solid record, but other teams seem to have figured out that beating OMG is as simple as shutting down their mid laner. OMG still have enough talent elsewhere to be somewhat competitive against other mid-table teams, but that won’t be enough against the 2019 LoL world champions.

FunPlus Phoenix have had an up-and-down season, but they seem to have found their form this month. FPX are 3-1 in their last four outings with wins against LGD Gaming (2-1), Rare Atom (2-1), and Top Esports (2-0), who they beat on Saturday.

Considering FPX’s volatility throughout the summer split, you could make a case for OMG to steal one map. Still, it’s the apparent quality gap that makes us go the opposite direction with this prediction.

?LGD Gaming have been very consistent as favourites on the summer season, which is surprising considering their sloppy macro play. LGD keep getting away with questionable plays; however, they’re individually still solid enough for us to view them as a middle-of-the-back team, and their metrics would confirm that.

Team WE are 6-4 on the summer season, which seems decent, but this is a squad that is very hard to trust. WE have been very shaky this entire season, and while the same was the case in LPL 2021 Spring, Team WE at least had solid performance metrics then – which isn’t the case now.

This seems like a 50/50 match, which makes it very easy to pick a team at the provided LoL betting odds. Take the plus money on LGD Gaming.

?Very few Chinese LoL teams can compete with and defeat JD Gaming, but we wouldn’t trust this team with a -1.5 map handicap. We have seen JDG drop maps against weaker teams before, and it doesn’t seem like that will change anytime soon.

It seems like JD Gaming play to the level of their opponents, which should give Bilibili Gaming a fighting chance to secure something on Tuesday. And it’s not like Bilibili Gaming are a terrible team.

BLG have slowly improved as the season has gone on, albeit they have had a mixed bag of performances against top teams mainly due to their momentum-driven performances. Still, when this team is “on”, BLG are tough to beat.

At better odds, we would take Bilibili to upset JDG, but at $2.76, this is not a position worth taking. Instead, we like over 2.5 maps. JDG will likely win, but it won’t be a clean sweep.

?ThunderTalk Gaming are 1-8 after five weeks of play with a poor 3-16 map differential. In their last three outings, TT Gaming lost to Rare Atom (0-2), EDward Gaming (0-2), and Oh My God (0-2), which isn’t too shocking, considering those are second-, first-, and eighth-ranked teams in the league.

Bilibili Gaming are 5-4 on the season, which is good for seventh place in the standings. Last week, they won against FunPlus Phoenix and added a 2-0 sweep against the struggling Rogue Warriors on Sunday. While we wouldn’t overreact to Bilibili’s win against FPX, you still have to give them some praise for their showings on the season.

TT Gaming enter this match priced as $4.81 underdogs, which is fair, as they will need to produce something remarkable to stand a chance against the surging BLG. Unfortunately, TT Gaming have yet to prove that they are fundamentally good enough to upset one of the hottest teams in the league.

?Team WE entered the LPL 2021 Summer with high expectations on their shoulders, but the LPL 2017 Spring champions have yet to deliver. Zhao “Elk” Jia-Hao and co. are a mid-table team, which isn’t terrible, but knowing that Invictus Gaming, Royal Never Give Up, Suning, and LGD Gaming have yet to find their form, Team WE could find themselves in serious danger of dropping out of the top 10.

LNG Esports are enjoying the best season of the organisation’s history. As a team that had consistently finished outside of the top 10, LNG Esports are now one of the top-four teams in the league.

It’s easy to get blinded by LNG’s 7-2 record, but the eye test would prove that they’re not nearly as good as that number suggests. Across the last three, LNG struggled against TT Gaming (2-1), lost against Rare Atom (0-2), and Ultra Prime (1-2).

LNG have had some solid showings over the season, but their playstyle will get figured out sooner or later, at which point we can expect some regression. We anticipated even money odds for this match, so we don’t have to think twice before siding with Team WE at outsider odds.

Victory Five lost their last outing against Bilibili Gaming (0-2), marking their seventh loss of the season. Seeing V5 struggle as much isn’t too shocking since they decided to reconstruct their roster during the offseason but made a huge mistake of letting go of their star players.

Ultra Prime are 1-6 on the summer season, which obviously isn’t great; however, UP are not playing as poorly as their current standings would suggest. They’re by no means a top-tier team, but their metrics are not as bad as that of Rogue Warriors, ThunderTalk Gaming, Victory Five, and other bottom LPL teams.

Since this is a clash between two of the weakest LPL teams, it would make sense to take a shot with Victory Five, but the eye test would suggest otherwise. Victory Five have yet to show anything that would inspire confidence, which is why we’re siding with Ultra Prime to seal the deal in two maps.

Oh My God are 5-2 on the season and enter this match after beating Team WE (2-1) on Saturday. It was a massive victory for OMG, who are producing results significantly better than what was expected of them.

Despite their relative success, it would be difficult to say that OMG are as good as their record would suggest. They’re averaging some of the lowest metrics in the league and have stolen a couple of their wins.

What OMG are good at, however, is early aggression, which has proved to be a very effective tool against scaling teams. That should make EDward Gaming a perfect matchup for OMG, but we aren’t convinced in OMG’s ability to gain any significant advantages here.

EDG have an incredibly stacked roster and are known to be one of the smartest teams in the world. They can struggle against hyper-aggressive teams, as seen in their 0-2 loss to Top Esports on Sunday, but we have to consider that TES are equally as talented as EDG, whereas OMG aren’t.

?JD Gaming enter this match with a 2-2 record that includes losses against LNG Esports (1-2) and LGD Gaming (1-2). Those results might not seem too terrible on paper, but it’s important to note that JDG were priced as $1.20 favourites in both of their losses.

Even though LNG and LGD have been playing exceptionally well this split, we have a hard time defending JD Gaming and their mediocre performances. JDG now have an excellent chance to bounce back against the worst-performing team in the league, but we aren’t convinced.

Victory Five might be 0-4 on the split, but they were competitive against Team WE, and you can’t really blame them for getting smoked by LNG either. If V5 can get their hands on strong meta picks, they could do some damage.

?The LoL betting odds on this match seem way off considering FunPlus Phoenix’s form. Although they’re still a serious candidate to win the league, FPX’s performances across their last four outings were anything but convincing. Their only three wins of the split came against Rogue Warriors, Ultra Prime, and ThunderTalk Gaming, who are three of the bottom five teams in the league.

Team WE weren’t that much more impressive, but they shouldn’t be priced as high as they are, especially with the talent they field. The only concern we have with WE is that they are usually slow starters, but it didn’t seem like it across the first two weeks of play.

As good as FPX can be, they aren’t a team you want to bet on at this price. Take the plus money on the outsiders here.